6 month old starting to Mark
 

I love my little buddy Theo. He's almost 6 months old. He finally got really good at going to the bathroom outside and on his potty pad. He was 100% perfect with just a few misfired.

Now suddenly he's starting to mark things. Like I got a new chair and he marked it, then he marked my backpack, and a folder I had leaned against my bed, worst thing is he has marked on visits to my friend's house!

Anyone have advice for this? I haven't neutered him yet, he's like 3-3.5 lbs at the most and almost 6 months old...:confused:

I would make an appointment right away with someone who has experience with small dogs. He is big enough. It takes a few months after the neuter for the male hormone thing to subside and hopefully he will stop marking.

Others with more experience with marking may have some more ideas. Some people use belly bands but I would think it is a behavior that you have to deal with as well.

I had a yellow lab years ago and he would lift his leg on every tree and telephone pole he met but he never marked inside. He was neutered when he was a year old.

Sounds like time to get neutered. Just make sure you get the before hand blood work done.

I agree with lovetodream88. It sounds like it's almost time to get him neutered.

Yes, I agree - time for a neutering. We had Jack neutered when he was a bit over 5 months old because he was starting to mark - best decision I made!!! Good luck!

I would get him neutered as soon as possible. That may help and may even put a stop to it altogether. My Ben only started to mark after he sired a second litter of puppies. He was almost 3 years old before he started marking! Most are more like your little man and start to mark at 5-6 months. Ben was a late bloomer. I think for him it was the combination of getting to act like a man and having the to smell the puppies little accidents in the house. No matter that I cleaned them immediately, he could still smell they had been there so he would mark to show his dominance. Anyway..... had quite a time with him marking. Finally I bought a new baby girl who was too little to breed so I went ahead and had Ben neutered at 3 years old. He has pretty much stopped all marking unless another male comes around. When I take care of my son's male dog, Ben starts marking again. He has also still marked a couple of times when something strange has been brought into the house like a large Fedex or UPS package. Not sure if he smells someone else on the box or what, but I've learned I need to unpack and get rid of the box! Still, he is pretty good about things now.

My mom has a papillion that she did not neuter until almost a year old. He was starting to mark and he really has never stopped. He marks the corner of her chair and the corner of her bed all the time. She is having a difficult time with this. I think marking is involuntary so you really cannot train it out of them. It is something they just have to work through on their own time and some never do.

The very best thing is to neuter them BEFORE they start to mark. That is the best chance of never having a marking dog. But that ship has sailed so the best you can do is get his procedure scheduled as soon as possible and hope he is more like my Ben who pretty much stopped marking when he got neutered. But be aware that another male dog even in the vicinity may start the marking again.